Taking The "Ism " Out Of "Islam"

Gay Muslim Outs Himself to Muslim Scholars at Conference

The article link goes to a UK Gay News story about a gay Muslim man who came out to an audience of Muslim scholars at the International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS. Suhail AbualSameed, who is weirdly given no other credentials other than “gay Muslim”, discussed the ill-treatment he receives from the larger Muslim community because of his sexuality, and it appears that his disclosure was well-received at the conference. The article also mentions some of the legal restrictions against homosexuality in some primarily Islamic countries, some of which even go up to the death penalty.

The article struck me because even though it’s so, so easy to ignore stories like this that have seemingly no effect on my life in the U.S., it’s hard to deny that this is a Big Deal. Even though I try to avoid thinking about isms in more than/less than terms, it’s difficult for me not to think of these other countries as simply more homophobic than the U.S. Particularly with Islam, the homophobia I think transcends being at a cultural level as it is within other religions. Once there are death penalty laws, I think it’s safe to say that one has reached the zenith of homophobia as an institution. I mentioned the assumptions I make about Christians in a previous post, and I think I make some of the same homophobia-emitting presumptions about Islam as a whole. I have an easier time saying disparaging things about Christianity’s treatment of gays because I primarily view it in terms of the white U.S. majority. I’m a little more uneasy about my Islam assumptions because I’m afraid I might be conflating it with ethnicity or nationalities that are different than my own. Am I viewing my conceptions of homophobia through a lens of racism or xenophobia? I don’t know, but it’s not the most pleasant thought.

So, separate from my own reaction, I cannot imagine a news item like this getting much attention in the U.S. because it intersects with issues that are largely outside the interests, I think, of most people. I feel like we don’t really have any cultural schema for “gay Muslim”, and it sounds like there might not be one in AbualSameed’s culture as well. I would hope that most people in the U.S. would be angered by the draconian anti-gay laws of other countries, but I’m afraid I’m just being overly optimistic. It might also be interesting to note that the conference took place in Johannesburg, and South Africa is one of only five countries that allow universal same-gender marriages. The general disapproval of same-gender marriage in the U.S. certainly doesn’t make us look great in terms of institutional acceptance.

Beenie Said Knock You Out. (And That's Not The Half Of It.)

Reggae star's lyrics say that lesbians should be hanged.

So the link goes to an article from the UK Times Online that concisely introduces the “new” story of overt homophobia in reggae and dancehall songs from Jamaican artists. I feel the need to cavil just a tad because this sort of story really isn’t new at all, and I’m disappointed that some publications are just now picking up on it. I took a class last fall called “Homophobia in the Black World”, and the professor had us listen to some songs, including the Beenie Man songs named in the article. Although the reporter calls this a “new offence”, it seems like it’s been in the homophobia discourse for easily a decade and probably longer.

But, anyway, it’s an interesting part of cultural homophobia. While it’s really easy for me, for some reason, to grumble about the homophobic lyrics of Eminem and other U.S. hip hop artists, I have a little more difficulty with these reggae artists. I mean, the lyrics are reprehensible to be sure. There is little to like about “Hang lesbians with a long piece of rope,” and the “Batty Man Fi Dead” lyrics had me agape when I first read them. (And I can’t find them anywhere now to reference. I’ll work on that. Needless to say? Scary stuff.) But music is such a rich part of Jamaican culture, or at least that’s what I gathered from my professor who is from Jamaica and has done public health work there. It brings up questions of what is considered a form of art, and can it still be art if it is hateful? I don’t know if I would call Beenie Man’s songs art per se, but I can’t stand it when people make overarching statements about reggae or hip-hop music being so awful because it’s homophobic (or misogynistic). I think it denies the artistic merits of those genres to do that, and it denies the homophobia that are present in other music genres.

So it’s clear that homophobia, in the example of these songs, is operating at a fairly broad, cultural, and explicit level. Explicit, at least, for those in Jamaica, and it doesn’t exactly seem like the best place to be out about being gay there. Not to say that the things expressed in these songs are characteristic of the culture, but it’s my sense that there is a homophobia there that operates more overtly and menacingly than what I am familiar with in the U.S. Okay, now I feel like I’m digging myself into a hole here. I guess I have to honestly say that I have some presumptions about Jamaican culture vis-à-vis homophobia. Much of it is because of music like this. I think it’s good that gay rights activists are fighting against homophobia in popular music, but I have this overwhelming feeling that maybe attentions should be focused…elsewhere maybe? Maybe it’s just that I don’t feel like the oppression I receive is from homophobic lyrics; it’s more about the overall lack of positive and honest gay representation in entertainment media. However, because music is such a part of Jamaica’s culture, it makes sense for gay activists to work within that area there. I just wonder if efforts should be made to build alliances in Jamaica, though, since change might be more effectively if it’s not coming from activists based in other countries. Homophobia is everyone’s fight, but I think change in a culture is most valuable from the people in that culture.